Journalist McKay Coppins on Wednesday identified President-elect Donald Trump's "most insidious legacy."
Writing in The Atlantic, Coppins makes that case that Trump has desensitized Americans to violent and dehumanizing rhetoric to an unprecedented degree.
He begins by listing off Trump statements from the final two months of his 2024 campaign, including lies about Haitian immigrants eating pets, musings about Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) facing rifles pointed at her face, and even an incident where he pretended to fellate a microphone.
"What you’re experiencing is the product of Trump’s clearest political accomplishment, and perhaps his most enduring legacy: In his near decade as America’s main character, he has thoroughly desensitized voters to behavior that, in another era, they would have deemed disqualifying in a president," he writes. "The national bar for outrage keeps rising; the ability to be shocked has dwindled."
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Coppins adds that this power seems to be utterly unique to Trump, as voters in North Carolina this week elected him while at the same time easily rejecting North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson, who described himself as a "Black NAZI" in a pornography website forum last decade.
Regardless, Coppins writes, the damage being done to American political culture is very real.
"Every time he crosses a new line, he makes it that much easier for the next guy to do so," he argues. "Nearly a decade into the Trump era, too many Americans have internalized the idea that expecting our political leaders to be good people is quaint and foolish. But this savvier-than-thou attitude only empowers Trump and his mimics to act with impunity."
